


Brighter Than Sunlight / Fuller Than Earth

by frenchifries



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Boundaries, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Horn Stimulation, Multi, Oral Sex, Polyamory Negotiations, Threesome - F/M/M, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 06:53:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30118842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frenchifries/pseuds/frenchifries
Summary: “I just wish…” Jade sighs, resting her hands atop those that sandwich her face, leaning into the touches. She blinks down at three sets of kneeling legs pressed together. “I wish I could pretend. Just for a little. That someone… loved me the way you love each other. I know that sounds pathetic.”AKA Jade Harley gets everything she wants and deserves because I love her.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Dave Strider, Jade Harley/Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Jade Harley/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	Brighter Than Sunlight / Fuller Than Earth

“Aaaaand one water-no-ice for the most boring man in the universe.” Dave returns Karkat’s glass with a flourish. As he hands it over, Karkat catches him by the wrist and presses their foreheads together. A silent smirk passes between them, and Dave can’t help pressing a kiss to Karkat’s quirked lips.

Jade lets out a mournful sound so small as to be inaudible to human ears. Karkat, though. He hears.

“Jade?” He pulls away and turns to her, concern suddenly wrinkling his features (though he doesn’t forget to put his glass on a coaster, unlike _some_ people.)

“What is it?” She tilts her head in question, but her façade has already been seen through.

“That’s what _I’m_ asking _you_.” Karkat folds his arms. “What’s wrong?”

Dave looks back and forth between the two, lost as ever.

“C’mon man, what makes you think something’s wrong? Wha– did I… miss something?”

“No, Dave! Of course not! You never miss anything!” Jade’s smile is just a tad too wide, too stiff, held in place by the years of words she’d never let herself say.

Where the air had once held the easy joy of three best friends hanging out and catching up, it now hung tense and tight.

All at once, Jade deflates. “Ugh… I’m sorry, guys.” She stirs the straw around her orange juice, ice clinking against the glass. “Don’t let me get the mood down. You just… keep doing what you’re doing.”

Dave scratches the back of his head. “Uh, and what is it that we’re doing, exactly?”

“You know,” and there’s a hint of that stiff smile again, “being all lovey-dovey.”

“Okay, first of all,” Dave says, taking his place on the couch next to Karkat. He extends a finger toward Jade. “Gross. We are _not_ ‘lovey-dovey.’ _Second_ of all,” and he proffers another finger, “the point of our hangouts is for all _three_ of us to, you know, hang out. Not havin’ you third-wheelin’ over there or whatever.”

“No, really, it’s fine. It’s, it’s nice to see you two like this.” And, the thing is, it’s not entirely a lie. She _does_ like seeing them together – maybe in a way she shouldn’t. A way that makes it hurt.

Karkat looks between them with that intensely analytical stare he normally reserves for movies.

“Did I do something wrong?” he says suddenly.

“No, of course not, it’s – ”

“Don’t say ‘it’s fine,’” Dave interrupts. He looks down at his hands, frowning. “I… think I let you say that too much.”

“I just meant – ”

“Jade,” says Karkat. Strangely gentle. Pleading. “Can you… tell us what’s bothering you?” He puts his hand on her knee. “…Please?”

That point of contact thrums with blood, and Jade can feel the pull, can feel the things she’d pushed down bubbling to the surface.

“I…” She takes a sip of juice, swallows hard. Pressure builds behind her eyes. Damn it, why does she have to ruin everything with her stupid selfish _feelings_? She can’t just unload the burden of her pathetic loneliness on her friends! It’s not their fault she’s like this, no matter how many people she surrounds herself with.

“Um…” Dave pipes up awkwardly. “I’m not really good at this sorta stuff but… You seem like you’ve been, I dunno, kind of sad for a while. And uh, I guess you don’t wanna talk about it, but, maybe you… should? Maybe it would… maybe we could help.”

Jade laughs at that, a sharp exhale through her nose that comes out meaner than she would have liked. Maybe they, the biggest aggravators of her problem, could help. Sure. She presses her hands over her face and groans. No! It’s not their _fault_! She can’t be _angry_ at them! They… they care about her, and they want to help, and she can’t even _tell them_ what’s wrong because they _are_ what’s wrong!

Well. Not exactly.

“Jade,” Karkat repeats. This time it feels like more of a command. Ugh, when did he get so… _emotionally mature_ and shit?

“I… I’m sorry, guys. I really do want to have a nice time together!” Jade chances a look at their faces. They look… so sad. And, on Dave’s end, still pretty confused. For his part, Karkat just keeps staring at her with those big eyes and that furrowed brow, flecks of red creeping into his irises, and Jade finds she can’t look away. She also finds she can’t stop herself from saying, soft and desperate, “I’m just so lonely.”

“What?” Dave squawks, apparently still sent off-kilter by statements of outright emotion.

Jade slaps a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from!”

“Lonely,” Dave repeats. “But we’re… we’re right here! How – ” Karkat elbows him sharply in the ribs.

“Keep going,” the troll says.

And Jade… wants to. So she does. She starts broadly, about how alone she was growing up, how no matter how much she talked to her friends, it still hurt so much. And then she could see them, and touch them, and then they were gone, and she was alone again. And even when the game ended and she surrounded herself with them, it still hurt. And even when she went out to make new friends, or found herself in other people’s beds, pressed between warm, affectionate bodies – they couldn’t possibly understand anything she’d been through, couldn’t _see_ her – and so she was still alone.

“And you know I love you guys and I’m happy for you, I really am, but it hurts so much to see you so… _together_. And I know that sounds horrible, so of _course_ I couldn’t say anything, but I don’t know how to _fix_ it!”

Karkat, apparently startled, retracts his hand. All at once, Jade feels something like a stretched rubber band snapping back to place inside her, and she is horrified. Tears stream from her eyes, catching on the hands she clasps over her mouth as though she could take back a word she’s said.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpers, folding in half. “I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me – ”

“Shit – shit, oh my god,” Dave is saying, and Jade feels his hands on her back. Hesitant at first, then pressing heavy and warm. Her face presses to his chest, his familiar scent so much closer than normal, and Jade is suddenly flooded with the vestiges of her awkward teenage crush. _Fuck_ , she’s going to ruin _everything_!

Karkat calls to her, voice cracking, now also apparently kneeling at her side. Between the tears, her hair, and the crevices of her fingers, Jade can hardly see a thing; so it takes her entirely by surprise when someone – both of them? – eases her onto the floor.

And then, someone is stroking her hair. Someone is rubbing her back. Someone is touching her face, pushing her hands out of the way. Someone is making calming, cooing noises, and a clicking purr permeates the room.

Her head whips up. “No!”

Dave and Karkat freeze, their hands still on her, looks of confused terror on their faces. Jade would rather fall down a deep, dark pit than be perceived right now. She must look horrible.

“No,” Jade continues. “Isn’t this…? This is pale! This is cheating! I can’t – ”

With a solid hand to her sticky cheek, Karkat shushes her. “It’s _fine_. It doesn’t have to be… that clear cut if you don’t want it to be.”

“Yeah,” Dave adds, brushing away some hair still stuck to her face. “You shoulda heard the lecture this guy gave me about… what did you call it? Non-quadrilineal pacific action?”

“Non-quadrantal pacification,” Karkat corrects with a huff. “You could at least _pretend_ to be educated.”

“Literally can’t, but okay.”

A small warmth flares in Jade’s chest at the sight of them, her love for these two dorks, but it’s presently outsized by the roaring shame of her outburst.

“I just…” she tries, pressing against Karkat’s palm. “I wish I could be… part of this.”

Dave furrows his brow. “You _are_ part of this. You’re, like, our best friend.”

Karkat, though, seems to get the message a little clearer, judging by the way his expression turns soft and sad.

“Oh,” he says.

“What? ‘Oh’ what?” Jade can practically see the gears clicking in Dave’s head, until he utters an _Oh_ of his own. He looks utterly mystified, for once at a complete loss for words.

“What, uh…” Dave gnaws at his lip, shadesless gaze averted. “I mean, could you be more… specific?”

Jade doesn’t think her face can get much hotter without undergoing full stellar nucleosynthesis.

“Dave,” Karkat hisses.

“Hey man, I’m just trying to get a grasp on what’s going on here. I don’t wanna be, like, assuming shit. You know what they say about assuming. Makes an ass of you and… ming.”

A snotty laugh escapes Jade, and she grabs hold of Dave’s hand, still hovering by her shoulder, and places it on her other cheek.

“I just wish…” Jade sighs, resting her hands atop those that sandwich her face, leaning into the touches. She blinks down at three sets of kneeling legs pressed together. “I wish I could pretend. Just for a little. That someone… loved me the way you love each other. I know that sounds pathetic.”

Silence, and then a high-pitched chirping sound. Jade recognizes it as one Karkat sometimes makes when he’s reading.

“Dude, are you really…” Dave mumbles.

“ _Stop_ , it’s not like that,” Karkat half-whispers back.

Stunned, Jade looks back and forth between the two boys. Did they… hear what she said? Maybe she didn’t actually say it, maybe she just thought she did and her body prevented the words from coming out to protect her from the inevitable humiliation of it all.

Karkat clears his throat. “So, um. I guess I’ll just say, I don’t think that’s pathetic at all? I wish I had known sooner, actually.” A flush rises to his cheeks. “And I want to know… what we can do to help.”

Jade’s chest clenches. They don’t seem… _mad_ at her, so that’s good. But…

“I wonder,” Jade sighs. “Do you even understand what you’re asking?”

Dave coughs. “Um, hi. I know _I_ don’t. Care to fill us in?”

Jade smirks despite herself. “Come on, Dave, you’re not _that_ clueless.”

“I– I mean, like I said? Assuming? I’d rather hear it from you.”

Karkat swipes his thumb across her cheekbone, disrupting the semi-dried tear tracks there.

“Please, Jade? We just want to know if… if we can make it better.”

“I…” Jade sighs. “I need you to understand that, if I haven’t ruined things by now, the stuff I say next… might.”

“It won’t,” Dave says quickly. “Unless it’s, like, really bad. But we won’t know until you tell us.”

Jade bites her lip, shuts her eyes. “I think…” Her chest pounds. “I think it _is_ really bad.”

“Hey,” says Karkat, still rubbing at her cheek. Jade can feel his pulse through the thin skin under her eye. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

She heaves a shuddering breath. “If I could, um… watch? That would be… that would be really nice, I think.”

There’s that chirping again. Jade squeezes her eyes even tighter, breathes, focuses on the sensation of Karkat’s pulse.

“A-and, I know you probably wouldn’t want to, but. It would be… so nice to be… in the middle?” Dave’s hand flexes, almost imperceptibly, against her face. “Not… I mean, not like _that_ , it would still just be the two of you, but I would be. There. Also. It’s just, what you have is so amazing, and I don’t want to change it! I just wish I could be… part of it, somehow.”

Another breath. God, her face really _could_ get hotter. Who knew. She almost wants to laugh at how undesirable she must look in this state. Hilarious, isn’t it? Trying to worm her way into her friends’ relationship, and she can’t even look pretty for them.

Karkat is the first to speak. ‘Speak’ being a relative term, since all he says is, “Um.”

When Jade chances a peek, opening her eyes just the tiniest sliver, Dave and Karkat are both beet red, and looking a little sweaty. Dave’s eyes are wide, his jaw set so tight he’s probably damaging his TMJ. Karkat is biting his lip so hard, Jade fears he might break the skin. Their hands are so clammy that Jade can’t stand the feel of them against her cheeks anymore, so she guides them to her lap.

“I think,” Dave croaks, “I think Kar and I have some… stuff to discuss.”

A black hole opens in Jade’s stomach.

Karkat furrows his brow in apparent thought. “I think we should talk in front of Jade.”

“O-oh… okay,” Dave stammers. “Sorry, I don’t really know how… this sort of thing is supposed to work…”

Jade, finally having _some_ grasp of the situation, pipes up. “There’s not really a ‘supposed to’ for… these things… just as long as everyone is being honest and thoughtful of one another’s feelings.” Poly negotiations, this is something she has experience with. Just… not usually in such dire circumstances.

“Um. I guess I’ll… go first?” Dave offers. Jade nods, her hands tensing over theirs. “I- I never really considered doing anything like that before but, if everyone's okay with it, I think you, um, being there while we… do… things could be… alright? I mean, you’ve already been a pretty big part of all… this?” He gestures vaguely around him. “You’ve kinda seen us at our best and worst and everything in between, so it doesn’t feel like _that_ big of a stretch to… you know. If that makes sense?”

Karkat nods without looking at them, expression still flushed and pensive – but, at Dave’s words, a hint of amusement tugs at his lips.

“A-and you know I don’t necessarily just mean sex stuff, right? If you don’t want – ”

Dave laughs nervously. “Well, ha, I guess we’ll see what happens. I mean, no offense, Jade, but… you _are_ kind of a babe.”

“ _Pftwhat??_ ” Jade splutters before she can think. “Wait, why would that be offensive?”

Dave rubs at his neck with his free hand. He’s looking like he’d really like to be wearing his shades right now. “Uh, you know, like, objectification or whatever? I mean… I dunno, isn’t it… kind of rude, for a guy to look at women that way?”

“Oh,” says Jade, something going mushy in her core. “That’s not… Dave, being attracted to someone isn’t the same as objectifying them. Even if it’s a woman. You’re… yeah, you were kind of stupid and sexist when we were kids, but… I think spending three years in close quarters with Rose taught you better, didn’t it?”

“Haha, yeah, I guess it did. Well, Kan and her chainsaw didn’t hurt, either.” Dave is looking everywhere but at Jade or Karkat. “Um. Yeah, no, it’s just. I guess when we were younger, I… I think I liked you for the wrong reasons. Like, I thought you were cute and nice and funny or whatever but also you were a _girl_ and you were _available_ and that’s what I was supposed to do. Have a crush on you, and date you, and be your big strong boyfriend who protected you… And I guess I still feel bad about it, even though I… Well, I _think_ I like you for the right reasons, now.”

Electricity jolts through Jade’s body. He… likes her? Like, _likes_ her likes her? But what about…

“Okay, enough talking about old embarrassing shit we thought and did when we were wrigglers, please!”

Yeah. Him.

“So, if I didn’t make it humiliatingly obvious with my prior vocalizations, I, uh…” Karkat huffs defiantly. “I maybe! Wouldn’t mind! Trying something like that!”

“Whoa, what happened to Love Guru Karkat?” Dave snickers.

“Sh-shut up! It’s! This is weird, okay? I never… I mean, I never really thought about anything like this before. Not for us, at least. I thought… I mean, no offense, Dave, but I kind of figured, even if it _did_ come up, you’d be too insecure for anything involving another person.”

“Excuse me? Insecure? _Moi_?” Dave presses a dramatic hand to his chest.

“Dave, it took _three years_ of being officially ‘together’ before you stopped asking me if I still liked you.”

“That’s – ”

“One time I was telling a story about Sollux and you crushed an entire soda can. Which was still half-full!”

“Well _I_ thought it was half-empty,” Dave snaps.

Jade laughs a little, but worry continues to gnaw at her. What if this sort of thing isn’t right for them? What if she ruins them?

“If I could interrupt,” she offers. Their eyes snap to her, attentive. Ooh, that is kind of nice, though. “Um… You really don’t have to… say yes. Not everyone is… I mean, adding a third person into the mix doesn’t work out for everyone. It’s really okay! Some people or relationships just aren’t suited to it!”

Dave squeezes her hand, looks away sheepishly. “We’re not ‘some people,’ Jade. _You’re_ not ‘some people.’ And, uh.” He looks at Karkat, takes the troll’s hand in his free one. “Kar, I don’t want you to feel… bad about this. If you do, we can… figure something else out. You… you know I'm yours for good, right? No matter what? For realsies? Forever and ever and – ”

“ _Augh_ , shut _up_ already!” Well-practiced at the shortcut to what he wants, Karkat smashes a rough kiss against Dave’s lips. And, weirdly, even though she hasn’t gotten an actual ‘yes’ yet, Jade finds her enjoyment of the sight isn’t cut through with the usual hurt.

When they separate, Karkat trills a funny little sound, but cuts it off by clearing his throat.

“Aw, I like your noises,” Jade says. Karkat flushes.

“Yeah, well.” He rolls his eyes. “As I was trying to say. If Dave doesn’t have a problem with it – ”

“As long as you don’t turn straight because you touched a boob,” Dave interjects. Karkat hisses and bares his fangs. “Hawt,” Dave says, waggling his eyebrows.

“Ugh. Look… multiple partners may be considered normal for trolls, but honestly, I never thought it would work for me. Once I realized I… couldn’t really do quadrants, I figured…” He takes a deep breath. “I figured, Dave was the only person I’d ever be able to connect with the way we do.”

Dave looks like he might pass out.

“And, in a way, of course that’s true. There’s only one me, and there’s only one him, so of course there can only be one relationship like the one between me and him. But that’s how any relationship is. They’re all different, because all _people_ are different. So, that doesn’t mean there aren’t _other_ ways I could connect with someone. In a. Kind of. Romantic-ish. Context. And we – _I_ – already care about you a lot, so… I guess what I’m trying to say, is… I’m willing to give this a shot. There! Okay? Did you _really_ need to make it that hard for me to get my full thought out?”

Karkat slaps Dave on the arm. Dave laughs into his shoulder, but Jade can see some tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Her heart does that fluttery thing again. After a moment, Dave sits up, scrubs at his face, and musses his hair in an entirely transparent shot at an ‘effortless’ look. He doesn’t pull it off even a little bit, Jade thinks fondly.

“Listen, Jade,” Dave says with raised brows, leaning toward her as though telling a secret despite his blatant audibility to Karkat. “You need to know, Karkat is _all kinds_ of freaky. He’s been trying to get me to use my time powers to double team him for _ages_.”

Jade laughs, but before she can get too excited by that mental image, a thought snaps to the forefront of her brain. “Powers…? Karkat, you used your powers on me! That’s why I said all that shit!”

“Powers?” Karkat looks between the two of them, perplexed. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t have any powers; I never went god tier!”

“Unless you count shoutiness as a power,” Dave adds.

Jade shakes her head. “Your blood powers. That’s what that feeling was.”

“What feeling?” Dave asks.

“The one where… Oh, I don’t know, it’s like that… that pulling connection, and the rhythm of your heartbeat – or, or was it mine? Like you were threading a needle through me and tugging it back out, and all my feelings with it. You know!” She waves her hands at Dave. “You must have felt it, right? He has to have used it at you on _some_ point.”

“I…” Dave blinks. Looks at Karkat. Looks at Jade. Back at Karkat. Down at the floor. “I thought that was just his magnetic personality.”

Jade bursts into what could probably be called straight-up cackles. Karkat still looks lost.

“But I don’t… _have_ powers! I’m pretty much the only fucking loser around here who didn’t bite it on a quest bed!”

“Karkat,” Jade gasps between laughter. “You don’t have to ascend to access _some_ level of your aspect abilities.”

“Wait, so… you’re telling me… I’m not actually good at talking to people? It’s just leftover game bullshit?”

“No, Karkat, that’s the point! It’s _you_. You are your aspect because your aspect is _you_!”

Karkat frowns and grumbles something to himself.

“Dave,” Jade says suddenly. Dave’s head swivels to attention. “I think you should kiss your boyfriend to make him feel better.”

Now Karkat is looking at her, too. Between the two boys, about a hundred different emotions cross their faces. Then, slowly, Dave nods, and releases Jade’s hand – which, honestly, comes as kind of a relief, considering how sweaty everybody’s palms had gotten – so he can take Karkat’s face between both hands. The soft look in Karkat’s eyes makes sparks fly in Jade’s belly. Slowly, deliciously slowly, their lips press together. Heat swirls through her every extremity. Something flutters in her lower abdomen, and… a little lower than that, too.

“Keep… Keep going.” Jade licks her lips, finding her mouth dry. “Try tilting your head a little more. Um. Like this.” With gentle touches, she nudges their heads into position to deepen the kiss. Oh, oh god, she can see a little tongue. She can’t help the whimper that escapes her lips. If they notice, they don’t slow down on account of it.

“Don’t stop, but… Karkat?” He hums in acknowledgement. Into Dave’s mouth. _Fuck_ that’s hot. “Are you, uh, feeling any of your fun troll noises coming on?”

Karkat sighs through his nose, something like relief or contentment, Jade thinks, and then.

Oh. And then.

A harmony of sounds, alien and musical and beautiful. Low, soft, comforting. High, needy, affectionate. A grin creeps across Jade’s face.

“Karkaaaaat,” she teases. “That high-pitched one. You do that when you read sometimes.” A little huff. “I wonder…” Jade threads a hand into his hair; he stiffens, but doesn’t stop kissing Dave. “What, exactly, are you reading?” She tugs at his hair, just slightly, just gently, and he moans. Jade brings her mouth close to his ear. “Sexy stuff, right?”

Dave laughs into the kiss. They break for air. Their lips are flushed and a bit swollen.

“Yeah,” Dave pants and waggles his brow. “That’s his, uh, horny noise.”

“Not! Necessarily…” Karkat says, surly. “But… generally, yes, that one indicates… mating fondness.”

It’s still going, slightly, providing an insanely harmonic resonance to Karkat’s voice.

“So when I said I wanted to be part of this…”

“It wasn’t like that! It was just… intense, is all. It’s – there is nuance here that you blunt-brained humans could not comprehend, okay?”

“Hehe, blunt brain,” Dave offers helpfully.

Jade hums and, slowly, giving them time to react (time to reject, though she hopes not), nudges her way between them. They press in close on either side. Jade’s heart soars. It might actually beat its way right out of her chest.

“So, that low one…” She trails a finger down Karkat’s chest. His breath hitches.

“Ooh, I can answer that one.” Dave raises his hand.

“You answered the first one, Dave!” Jade grins. She presses her palm flat against Karkat’s diaphragm – or, where a diaphragm would be on a human. “Give him a turn.”

“Well – well, that one’s complex, too! It’s a safety signal, for one, and – ”

“It means _I love yooouuu_.”

“Dick.”

“Hmm. Interesting. Very interesting.” Jade taps her chin thoughtfully. “I think you two should kiss again.”

Karkat chirps. Dave coughs.

“Actually, I was thinkin’…”

“Y-yeah?” Jade really hopes it’s a good kind of thinkin’ and not a ‘this isn’t working out’ kind of thinkin’.

“The floor ain’t exactly the most comfortable spot, so, if we’re going to continue, I reckon we might as well… move this to the bedroom? Not! Not that that means we need to do, uh, bedroom stuff! Just. You know. Bed… soft?”

“Oh my god.” Jade rolls her eyes. With a hand on each boy’s back, she blinks them out of the living room and onto the bed.

“Whoa, okay, I was thinkin’ we could walk with our legs like common folk, but I guess we’re teleporting like bougie fucks today. I see how it is.”

“Wait,” says Karkat, looking around. “This is my room.”

“You guys have separate _rooms_?”

“Uhh, Jade, I dunno if you noticed, but me and Karkat weren’t exactly sleeping together when we built this place.” Dave settles back on the mattress, folding his arms behind his head.

“We… pretty much exclusively use Dave’s these days. But it’s still nice to have the option. You know, if one of us can’t sleep, or he pisses me off too badly.”

“Or if Karkat ruins the sheets and we don’t feel like doing laundry.”

Karkat shoves him, but lays back as well. Dave holds out a hand for Jade to join them in repose, which she does. It’s silly and childish, but she kind of feels like a princess. Not exactly a thought she’s ever entertained before, unless you count being trapped in a tower. Hm. Maybe she doesn't like that metaphor so much, after all.

They stay like that for a few minutes. Jade can feel their eyes on her, and self-consciousness bubbles in her throat.

“Haha, I probably look terrible right now, huh?”

“Huh? No…?” Dave says, sounding confused.

“You’re actually really…” Karkat’s voice cracks. “Oh god, I don’t remember how to compliment girls…”

Jade snort-laughs and shoves his shoulder. “I can’t believe you just said that. What are you, twelve?”

“Pretty, Karkat. You can call her pretty.” Dave bites his lip. “If that’s… okay with you?”

Jade can’t stop smiling.

“I wasn’t sure if that was, I dunno, demeaning or whatever…” Karkat says, sounding guilty.

“Aww, you guys are such feminists. It’s adorable.”

“Hell yeah, you know we drink our respect women juice.” Dave jabs a proud thumb to his chest, then whispers conspiratorially, “It’s apple juice. Turns out they’re the same thing.” He shrugs. “Anyway, you wanna talk about looking terrible, you’ve _seen_ Karkat after an extra soppy movie. And I still… wait.” He addresses Karkat. “Can I… tell her?”

Karkat lifts up onto his elbows to look over at Dave. Their eyes meet and some silent message seems to pass between them. Karkat nods, biting his lip.

“Haha, yeah, so…” Dave chuckles. “Some of our best sex is right after Karkat’s been crying his eyes out.”

“Oh! My god!” Jade cackles.

“It’s not that funny…” Karkat mumbles.

“No, holy shit, that’s hot as _fuck_ ,” Jade snorts. Poor Karkat’s face hasn’t lost its flush all afternoon, but it certainly flares up again at that.

“Right? That’s what I keep trying to tell him.” Dave reaches across Jade’s chest to hold Karkat’s hand. She shifts, hopefully not too obvious in her intentions.

Well. She shouldn’t have overestimated a guy who’s definitely never touched a boob in his life. Dave squawks as her chest brushes against his forearm. Before he can move away, Jade grabs it and holds it in place.

“Do you, um…”

“Mm-hmm.” Jade nods, blushing.

“Oh,” says Dave, shifting a little closer. “Is this… okay?”

“Karkat?” she says, placing a hand between the troll’s shoulder blades. He gets the hint and closes in from his side. “You can, um…” She sort of… guides their joined hands to her chest. Her entire body tingles at the contact.

“Whoa…” Dave says. Jade laughs.

“I know, they’re fucking great, right?”

Karkat trills softly, quietly. “And this is… really okay?”

“Yes, dunkass!”

“Sorry, jeez, I just… Never did this before.”

“Yeah, I can tell.”

Getting them to touch her tits was not actually part of the plan – she was more than happy with the idea of just watching the two of them screw from across the bed, offering the occasional direction. But Jade lets herself enjoy the attention, the feeling of their hands squeezing and caressing, the sound of her boys’ heady breathing. Dave’s hair tickling her neck. Karkat’s chirps and clicks. It’s –

Huh. _Her boys_.

Jade knows the closest things to gods in this world are uncaring abominations, yet she prays to _something_ that this works out in the long term. That it’s not just a few sloppy experiments and an awkward ‘sorry, guess this wasn’t right for us!’

“Closer,” Jade breathes. They press in a little more. “Now, kiss.”

She freezes when she feels the brush of their lips to her temples. Then she laughs.

“Each other! I meant each other!”

While they sputter embarrassed excuses, Jade rolls her eyes and shoves their faces together herself.

 _God_ , what a picture they make. Dave’s eyelids fluttering, his stupid smug façade traded for an expression that brings to mind the word ‘home.’ Karkat’s intense brow furrowed in concentration, his jaw working with practiced precision. Their noses bumping as they tilt and turn, the occasional breathy laughs when their faces smush together uncomfortably. Every tiny noise that reaches her sensitive ears, offering the subtlest cues and insights. The love between them, practically fucking tangible – and Jade gets to be part of it. Her heart has never felt more full. _Fuck_ , is this what it’s _always_ like for them? Can’t be. That would be too much. They would die.

With all the shifting and pressing, it’s not long before Jade feels something hard pressing at her left thigh. She bites her lip to suppress the worst of her filthy grin.

She starts with Karkat, remembering his response to her little hair experiment. She grips the thick strands and pulls, not roughly, not enough to hurt (she doesn’t think); just enough that he feels it.

“Mmh, Dave,” he whimpers.

“Dude.” Dave calls another breather, forehead-to-forehead. “Jade’s _right_ there.”

“Oh no no, I don’t mind at all,” Jade coos, sliding a hand against Dave’s slightly-exposed waist where his shirt’s ridden up. “As long as… you don’t mind?”

Dave sits back on his heels and looks like he’s just noticed the boner he’s been sporting. He looks… kind of embarrassed. Jade sits up.

“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to…”

“No, I just.” He shakes his head. “It’s… It’s not bad, just… weird.” He laughs uncomfortably. Karkat rubs at his knee.

“What can we do?” Karkat asks.

Something occurs to Jade, a whole lot too late. A blurry memory from a couple years ago, a night that got a little out of hand. Dave, drunk and ranting something about _cameras_ and _watching_. It was hard to glean from context (or the lack thereof), but it made something nasty twist in Jade’s gut, something hard and angry and vengeful.

“What if we focus on Karkat,” she suggests, hoping her tone comes across playful and not, well, murderous. She looks at the troll. “Do you, uh, like that idea?”

Karkat tugs at his collar. Poor thing, all bundled up in those long sleeves.

“Me? Uh, I mean, that’s – ” Dave grabs the troll’s hand and squeezes. Karkat sighs affectionately.

“Yeah,” says Dave. “I can show you how to break him.”

Karkat makes a new noise, something sharp and guttural and wanting.

“Haha, yup. That’s a big yes. He likes it very much, methinks.”

Jade sits back against the headboard while Dave lays Karkat onto the mattress in front of her.

“So the first thing you need to know about Karkat,” Dave says, as though explaining how to change a tire. ( _Not that he knows how to do that, the useless twink_ , Jade thinks meanly to herself, and giggles.) “Is that his sweet spots are here,” he brushes his fingers along the troll’s throat, “here,” his waist, “here,” his inner thigh, “aaaaand, though he _insists_ it’s not, right here,” his horns.

“Wait, no no no, I’ve been with trolls,” Jade interrupts. “Horns don’t have much sensation.”

“I’m guessing you have a thing for big racks?”

“Scuse me?”

“The ol’ Texas longhorns? Listen, Jade, the bigger the horns, the less they feel. Our guy here, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, has the littlest nubbins this side of Earth C.”

“Ah,” says Jade, suddenly interested in both a sensual _and_ academic manner. “So if I were to…”

She touches a gentle finger to the tip of Karkat’s right horn. He shivers. She trails it down the ridged side, feather-light. He moans.

“It helps that he’s already worked up,” Dave adds with a wink. “So uh, you look like you can handle those. In the meantime, I’ll work on… hmm.” He looks over the troll appraisingly, thoughtful hand to his chin.

“You’re an idiot,” Karkat mutters. Jade comes around to sit behind him, pillowing his head in her lap, and digs her fingers into his hornbeds. “ _Fuck!_ ” He grabs her wrist. “That’s good, don’t stop that.”

Jade’s… _everything_ flutters.

In the meantime, Dave seems to have decided on his first target. He presses his nose to Karkat’s throat, trailing soft kisses across the skin before biting down and sucking. Karkat twitches, shoulders scrunching up reflexively. Dave’s hands trail down his sides, sweeping over his lower abdomen and pushing the bottom of his shirt up. He slides teasing hands over Karkat’s – well, the term that comes fondly to mind is _love handles_. Karkat shudders as though caught between wanting to pull away and press into the touch. Dave grips him by the waist, face still buried in his throat, lavishing attention and affection over every inch.

“Dave,” Karkat whines, gripping at the back of Dave’s shirt.

“M’here.”

Something molten and gooey churns at Jade’s core. _Like nacho cheese_ , offers the part of her that’s a little _too_ in-tune with Dave.

“Love you.”

Dave laughs. “Psh, yeah man. You too.” He glances up at Jade. “He always says it. I dunno why he thinks he needs to say it when we’re screwing. Like, yeah dude, _obviously_ we love each other. Pretty sure that’s established. Would be pretty awkward otherwise.”

Jade hums thoughtfully. “Karkat is a very verbal lover.”

“Can you not talk about me like I’m not here?” Karkat grouses, one arm thrown over his eyes.

“That reminds me,” Dave says, “I forgot to tell you about his secret fifth sweet spot.”

“Ooh, do tell.”

Dave grins crookedly. “Words.”

Before Jade can ask for clarification, Dave is petting Karkat all over and muttering praises like _so beautiful_ and _love you so much_. Karkat… is fucking _into_ it. He grasps at Dave, legs curling around his thighs, chest heaving with his shuddering breaths. And the troll noises, oh yeah, they are very much present. Jade’s chest is tight with… whatever it is that she feels for these guys. Love, sure, but… a slightly different sort than whatever they share between the two of them. Something Jade isn’t sure there’s a specific word for. So maybe ‘love’ will have to continue to do.

Between Dave’s words and Jade’s hornjob (is that a thing?), Karkat looks like he’s about to fall apart. The most coherent thing he seems able to manage anymore is Dave’s name. Then he grabs Dave by the back of the head and smashes their lips together. He bites down, and Dave whimpers. Before their tongues can get involved, though, he’s pushing Dave’s head down, and Dave seems to know what to do from there.

He slides down Karkat’s body to settle his head at the troll’s groin. _Oh_ , now Jade’s getting to see the good shit. Dave presses his head against the writhing mass at the front of Karkat’s pants – _holy shit_ , how was she so entranced by their mushiness that she missed that? – and the troll bucks his hips. Dave hooks his fingers in the waistband.

“Yeah?” he says softly.

“Oh my god, you don’t have to _ask_ every time!”

“ _Ass-u-ming_ ,” Dave sing-songs, and yanks. Jade stalls in her work up top to take in the sight.

It’s… fascinating. Jade’s been with trolls before, seen her fair share of bulges. Different colors, sizes; slight variations in shape; some bumpy, some ridged like fins, some smooth as water; but nothing like Karkat’s. It’s bright red, for one, that’s obvious. It’s also… really small, probably just under three inches – though it’s hard to tell for sure with how much it writhes and curls on itself. The tip is rounded, and Jade can’t help but find it… _cute_. Which she would never tell him, of course; she’s not sure if trolls have comparable concepts of emasculation, but she figures it’s best to play it safe.

Dave noses at it with what looks like affection, which is kind of fucking adorable. It smacks him in the face with a wet _plap_ , leaving behind red smears, which is… less fucking adorable. At one point, it looks like it’s trying to go up Dave’s nose.

“Hey, buddy,” he says, gripping it by the base. “How many times do we have to discuss manners?”

“How many times do _I_ have to tell you to _stop fucking talking to my dick!!_ ”

“Babe, can you give us a sec? We’re having a conversation down here. Rude.”

“I’ll divorce you, Dave. I’ll human marry you just so I can human divorce you.”

Intriguing; apparently Karkat can recover the ability to speak coherently _if and only if_ it’s to insult Dave. Who knew.

Before Jade can dwell further on this phenomenon, Dave is licking his way up Karkat’s bulge, then slipping the tip into his mouth. Jade and Karkat moan in unison, and Dave looks up in surprise, as though he’d forgotten Jade was there. He blushes and looks away shyly, returning his focus to, Jade supposes, something familiar.

It is, admittedly, pretty strange to see her childhood friend in such a position. Like, is this allowed? Is Dave Strider, former awkward tween, allowed to suck alien dick?

But then, it’s also so obvious how much he’s grown. How much they’ve all grown. This conversation could _never_ have happened even a few years ago. Hell, if not for Karkat, it probably would have never happened at all. That thought feels like a punch to the chest, and she is so, so grateful for him. Despite their acrimonious start, he grew into someone so… incredible. And now she gets to see both of them like _this_.

Words have slipped away, and now Karkat breathes heavily, arrhythmically. Dave slurps noisily at his bulge, which Jade finds kind of hot but also extremely funny. She busies herself with winding trails up and down Karkat’s horns, circling the bases, scritching at his scalp.

Suddenly, a hand bumps against hers. In his delirium, Karkat is reaching out, grasping for something, someone. She doesn’t imagine it could possibly be her he’s seeking, until he rasps,

“ _Jade_ …”

Her stomach swoops. She takes his hand, grips it tight.

“Shh, you’re gonna make Dave jealous,” she teases. Dave gives his best approximation of a laugh around the mouthful currently occupying him.

“You can say no, but…” Karkat strains to talk. “Do you wanna kiss me?”

Jade laughs, a bright little burst of nerves, so taken off guard by the absurdity of it all.

“Sure,” she says, and leans over for an upside-down kiss.

Karkat mutters something against her lips, but it’s too garbled to make out. Before she can ask him to repeat himself, Dave evidently does _something_ that leaves Karkat gasping and trembling and squeezing Jade’s hand. Shit, she’s kind of annoyed she missed it. At least she gets to see his hips rolling up into Dave’s face, red oozing everywhere. Dave’s loving little kisses to Karkat’s hip, gentle strokes to his thigh.

“Dave,” he breathes. Hm. Karkat _really_ loves names. Jade files that away under ‘things to investigate later.’

“Yeah,” says Dave, almost as breathless, and hefts himself up to kiss Karkat. The troll screws up his face at the taste, but leans into the kiss nonetheless. Little grunts and groans pass between them, and Jade takes the opportunity to stroke both of their hair.

“So good, you’re both so good,” she finds herself whispering mindlessly.

“What am I, your pet?” Dave mutters, breaking the kiss. “You’re the one with the puppy ears. Don’t forget that.”

“Mmm, that didn’t sound very feminist, Dave.”

He swats uselessly at her thigh. “Are you gonna play that card whenever you don’t get your way?”

“I guess that depends on if it’ll work.”

Karkat grunts.

“Well, sorry princess, but I gotta help this guy to the shower.”

Jade stands and helps both boys – men, she guesses, though it feels funny to think of them that way – to their feet.

“Mm-hm.” She follows them to the bathroom door. Dave opens it and ushers Karkat inside. “But, Dave?” He turns to look at her. Quick enough that he doesn’t have time to react, she pecks him on the cheek. “Don’t call me princess.”

Jade shuts the door on their blushing faces. Somehow, everything feels… kind of fucking perfect.

* * *

Later, after the guys are showered and changed into PJs, and Jade has had time to replay the day’s events while staring at the ceiling in giddy disbelief, the three of them find themselves sitting in a cross-legged triangle on the living room floor, lightning-rounding thoughts, questions, requests, ideas – everything.

“It doesn’t have to be every time. Or even _most_ of the time. I mean, you guys should still do stuff without me, okay?”

“Sure, yeah.”

“Although I uh, I might be interested in staying after at least _one_ soppy movie night, if you guys are so inclined.”

“Kark?”

“Ugh, fuck it. I have no more dignity to lose. Are you gonna… want to kiss Dave, too?”

“Mmm, I dunno, if he wanted me to.”

“Uhh, ha, I… I dunno. Maybe eventually. Not sure yet. But… you can still kiss Karkat, if you want.”

“Dave, _you’re_ not the one who gets to give permission for that!”

“I’m just sayin’ I thought it was… kind of hot. No no, hear me out! It’s like, I think _you’re_ hot, and I like kissing you, and being kissed by you, but I don’t exactly get to _see_ it when it’s happening, you know?”

“He makes a good point, Karkat. I know _I_ like seeing you get kissed.”

“You guys are killing me. Why do I feel like I’m being passed around like a wriggler’s toy?”

“’Cause you’re so cute.” (That was both Dave and Jade. At the same time.)

“Can I touch your ears?”

“Oh my god, I thought you’d never ask.”

“Actually, uh. What… _can’t_ I touch?”

“Mmm, I have a strict ‘no boys allowed’ policy on anything below the belt. But everything else, go nuts!”

“And speaking of nuts…”

“Gross. No. Sorry, but I’m gonna say that policy goes both ways.”

“Hey, hey, no prob here.”

“Sorry about him. He doesn’t speak for us both.”

“Jade, are you, uh… I mean, will you be seeing… other people? Not that we’re, I mean, haha, I dunno what you call this, but…”

“Well, I’m feeling pretty fulfilled in the guy department, buuuut I might still look for some cute ladies to hang with, now and again. Nothing… serious, I don’t think. Haha, not that ‘serious’ could really happen with anyone who didn’t go through… you know, what we did.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah…”

“Yeah……”

“Hey, Jade, settle this once and for all. Between me and Karkat, which of us is the top? It’s me, right?”

“Oh my god. Don’t answer that.”

“Come on, you saw me. Total service top, right?”

“No! Not even a little bit! Tell him, please!”

“Ehh, I guess I could see – ”

“No! He was just showing off for you! Next time you’ll see his true colors, _pillow princess_.”

“ _Ah-kh-tch-ff_ – could a pillow princess do _this_? _Hnnnng_ – ”

“Oh my gosh Dave, stop, you’re gonna herniate a disc!”

“Stop fucking trying to lift me! It’s never gonna work!”

“Ugh, forget it, you’re too dense. Got those troll bones or whatever.”

“Can I try?”

“Hey – _careful!_ You're both fucking animals.”

“Cheating! Cheating! You have space powers _and_ dog powers!”

“No, Dave, I lift weights.”

“So _Jade’s_ the top.”

“Dude, that’s not how it works! She didn’t even – ”

“ _You_ sucked _my_ bulge. That makes you the bottom.”

“ _I_ made _you_ come. That makes me the top.”

“Oh my god, you’re both fucking bottoms!”

* * *

“Hey, Karkat?”

“Hm.”

“After we kissed… What did you say?”

“Oh… I dunno… I don’t remember. Probably something stupid.”

“Karkat…”

“No, I don’t… it wasn’t important!”

“Kaaaarkaaaat…”

“Stop! Stop! Dave, make her stop!”

“Naw, I wanna know, too.”

“I hate you both.”

“Oh, is that what we’re calling it, now?”

“Fine, okay, fine, I was just saying… it’s not pretend.”

“…What?”

“You… you said you wished you could pretend. To be… you know… loved.”

“The way me and Karkat love each other?”

“Oh… I did say that, didn’t I? Haha.”

“But… it’s not pretend. I mean. Like I said, the thing between me and Dave is different than the thing between… us and you, and you and him, and you and – ”

“I know.”

“Oh. And that’s… okay?”

“More than okay.”

“Okay.”

“…”

“But it’s not pretend. That’s… that’s all I wanted to say.”

“…Thanks. I, uh. I think I kind of love you guys.”

“Same.”

“…Same.”

**Author's Note:**

> DAVE: im a twunk! im a twunk!  
> JADE: in your fucking DREAMS you're a twunk!


End file.
